In connection with mounting or repair work on such poles as telephone poles or power-line pylons, the operator uses not only a pair of climbing irons, but also a safety line which can be passed around the pole for retaining the operator in an obliquely rearwardly-upwardly inclined position in which he has his hands free for manipulating the tools and the wiring equipment required for carrying out the work. Traditionally, the safety line is fastened to a simple belt strapped around the operator's waist. More specifically, this is done by fastening safety hooks mounted on the safety line, in loops or rings mounted on the front portion of the belt. A serious drawback of this arrangement however is that the load exerted by the weight of the operator must be taken up by the relatively narrow belt which supports only the lower part of the operator's back, but leaves the other parts of the back without any support whatsoever. In practice, this means that the spine of the operator is subjected to extreme stresses in the area of the lumbar vertebrae, with serious, often irrepairable wear of the vertebrae as a result.
To overcome the problems stated above, it is desirable to apply the fastening means for the safety line to a harness having shoulder straps which, far more efficiently than a simple belt, can distribute the stresses over the operator's body. Such a harness is previously known from AT 383,493, but in this prior art harness, the fastening means are fixedly mounted on the pertaining shoulder strap in a position given once and for all. This means that the operator nevertheless will be subjected to stresses concentrated in certain points of his body and resulting in that the harness straps will be tightened abruptly and with a pull when he leans backwards. This occurs in a predetermined rear end position from which the operator cannot lean further backwards. In practice, the operator will thus find the harness uncomfortable and too tight-fitting.